FOXBORO – The contract Julian Edelman signed in March put him in a new tax bracket.

It also cast him in a new light.

In the aftermath of the 105-reception season he enjoyed in 2013 (easily exceeding his cumulative total of 69 catches his first four seasons in the NFL) that resulted in the four-year contract worth a reported $19 million he signed earlier this year, dare we say the converted college quarterback from Kent State is now an established veteran with the Patriots?

“I haven’t even thought about it,” Edelman said following the squad’s latest organized team activity on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium. “I’m just trying to go out there every day and get better.

“Everyone’s got a different kind of goal. Whether it’s trying to make a team, whether it’s trying to earn your role, trying to contribute to something, and I’m just like one of those guys trying to earn a role and go(ing) out there (to) help this team.”

After five seasons in the league, Edelman carries a game plan into these OTAs.

“You want to get reps, muscle memory on your fundamentals, on running routes, catching the ball at a high pace with a guy on you, stuff like that,” said Edelman, a seventh-round pick of the Patriots in the 2009 draft. “You want to have little mini-goals of going in and not making a mistake.

“If there’s some new material every day or something like that you want to go in and try to execute to the best of your ability the first time instead of taking one or two times to do it. Just stuff like that. It’s good to get out here and get reps as a unit and try not to be that one guy making a mistake on the play.”

Life at 55: James Anderson, the former Chicago Bears linebacker the Patriots signed as a free agent on Wednesday (wide receiver Mark Harrison was released), has been given No. 55.

Anderson, 30, is a veteran of eight NFL seasons with the Carolina Panthers (2006-2012) and Bears (2013).

The 6-foot-2, 235-pounder has totaled 556 tackles, 23 passes defensed, 12 sacks, eight fumble recoveries, five forced fumbles and three inteceptions in 110 games (69 starts), 102 tackles and four sacks while starting all 16 games for the Bears last season.

“It surprised me,” said Patriots wide receiver Brandon LaFell, a teammate of Anderson’s for three seasons in Carolina. “He texted me a few weeks ago, and yesterday I came into the locker room and I’m seeing that they’re putting ‘James Anderson’ up (on a locker), and he came walking through the door.

Page 2 of 2 - “I’m like, ‘I thought you were joking.’ And he said, ‘No, man, I was dead serious. I had the workout and everything.’ It turned out pretty good.”

LaFell offered this assessment of his old/new teammates: “He’s a great guy. He’s a hard worker, he’s a guy that’s going to do everything that the club asks him to do.”

Charity softball game: A number of Patriots are scheduled to trade in their football helmets for batting helmets on Saturday (7 p.m.), traveling to Brockton to participate in the Kevin Faulk Celebrity Softball Game at Campanelli Stadium.